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The Rev. Al Sharpton abruptly backed out yesterday of a symposium on the 1991 Crown Heights riots after his invitation triggered outrage.

Sharpton said he would not appear on a panel discussing the "State of Black-Jewish Relations: Twenty Years After Crown Heights" because it would "pain" Norman Rosenbaum, whose brother Yankel was stabbed to death during four days of rioting.

After the invitation to Sunday's symposium at The Hampton Synagogue on Long Island was disclosed, Rosenbaum denounced it as "an absolute disgrace." He said Sharpton's "vile rhetoric incited the rioting."

Sharpton yesterday wrote the symposium's organizer, Rabbi Marc Schneier: "Since the event has now been distorted and would cause pain to him [Rosenbaum], I, out of respect to his request, have decided to decline to participate in Sunday's event."

Sharpton denied in his letter to Schneier that he exacerbated tensions in 1991.

The letter also said: "Over the last twenty-hours I have been made aware of local detractors of yours and mine that want to engage in the business of division and distortion rather than respect your work and attempt to have dialogue even among those that may disagree."

Schneier, who is also president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, praised Sharpton in a phone interview with JTA for deferring to the feelings of Rosenbaum, but said he "regretted the missed opportunity ... and that this important dialogue will not take place on Sunday."

"It was a chance to clear the air, to talk about the misunderstandings," Schneier said. "You don’t dialogue with people with whom you agree fully." He also argued that the forum would have focused as much on the Jewish role in the civil rights movement as on the riots.

Norman Rosenbaum had told reporters in New York on Wednesday that “Rabbi Marc Schneier should take a damn good, hard look at the videos of the riots over the three-day period, look at the media reports and he’ll see there clearly the role Al Sharpton played.”

"Sunday's focus should not have been on what was said 20 years ago," Schneier said, "but what Rev. Sharpton is saying now."

The riots started after Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, was struck and killed by a car in the motorcade of the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Scheerson, in August 1991. Rosenbaum, who was visiting from Australia, was fatally stabbed later that night.

Sharpton was accused of fueling the three days of riots with his actions and remarks. He led a protest march of hundreds shouting "No justice, no peace" through the streets of Crown Heights to the Lubavitcher movement's world headquarters.

After the riots had subsided, at Cato's funeral, Sharpton referred to the neighborhood's Chasidic Jews as "diamond merchants."

Amazed that Al would do the right thing, finally. He's beyond contemptible.

He didn't do the right thing..He was simply covering his own ass from further Criticism for his role in agitating the blacks..

Sharpton,Jackson,Rangel ,They all got their start in New York City agitating the races..

Charlie Rangel :
A detective from the Police Commissioner’s office looking to ease tension between Harlem cops and local residents after an alleged brutality incident was denied entry to a notorious mosque simply because he was carrying his gun and shield, The Post has learned.

The embarrassing flap occurred Friday night, when Det. Martin Brown, who is assigned to the Police Commissioner’s Liaison Unit, showed up at Mosque No. 7, at 106 West 127th Street after allegations that local youths were roughed up by cops from the 32nd Precinct, sources said.
snip
When Brown showed up at the mosque — the scene of a horrific 1972 cop killing — the official who had invited him, Abdul Kareem Muhammad, the head of the Harlem Clergy and Community Leaders Coalition, did not let him enter because of his gun and shield, sources said.

The same mosque was once headed by the Rev. Louis Farrakhan and is the site of one of the most embarrassing chapters in New York City history. On April 14, 1972, Police Officer Philip Cardillo was fatally shot when he and a partner responded to a phony 911 call and were trapped inside by a mob of Nation of Islam members.
snip
While Knapp was talking on the phone he heard shouting. He turned and saw Louis Farrakhan and Charlie Rangel leading a large group of muslims down the basement stairs. Farrakhan was shouting that all the cops must leave the temple. Knapp tells Haugh to move to the street.
snip
The crime scene was abandoned. Farrakhan and Rangel are shouting to the superior officers "If you stay, there is nothing we can do to protect you. You'll be overrun. There'll be rioting. People may be killed." Farrakhan and Rangel 'promise' that the prisoners would come to the 24 pct. at five o'clock to be questioned. Do you think anyone showed up? Phil Cardillo died six days later. Mayor John Lindsay and Commissioner Pat Murphy did NOT attend the funeral.
......................Al Sharpton:

Crown Heights riot
As examples, they point to anti-Semitic statements made by protesters throughout the rioting, and comments made at Gavin Cato’s funeral. In his eulogy at the funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton made comments about "diamond dealers" and commented "It's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights."[15] In addition, a banner displayed at the funeral read "Hitler did not do the job".[5]

NEW YORK CNN The Rev. Jesse Jackson was among more than 200 people arrested Friday protesting the fatal shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo last month by New York police officers.........Jackson likened the case to the causes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, as he joined the demonstrations outside NYPD headquarters.

The civil rights leader was one of 226 people arrested for trespassing as the crowds blocked the buildings entrance. The total number of people arrested during 14 days of protests now stands at 1,019, according to revised totals from the police department.
snip
Jackson compared the racial tension between the NYPD and the citys minorities to the preCivil Rights era South and blamed the aggressive crime fighting tactics of the citys mayor, Rudy Giuliani.....Giuliani has certainly set a climate for permissiveness of violence and mean police behavior, Jackson said.
Comparing Giuliani to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace, Jackson said, Just as Wallace set a climate in Alabama not what he did, what he said and what he did not do Mr. Giuliani has set a climate.
snip
Jackson called on the Clinton administration to investigate police departments nationwide.
......Whether Diallo in New York; or whether it is Rodney King in California; or Tyesha Miller in Riverside, California; the killing in Jasper, Texas, Jackson said, theres a national toxic climate........ Therefore, these marches must continue until there is a renewed commitment for a fair criminal justice system.
......................

Amazed that Al would do the right thing, finally. He's beyond contemptible.

You just don't appreciate Al's keen intellect.

"Tonight is the measure of whether the country begins in the state of Wisconsin, a national drive to push back or whether we have more to go to build a movement of resistence... BUT RESIST WE MUCH, WE MUST, AND WE WILL MUCH, ABOUT THAT, BE COMMITTED." ~ AL Sharpton

"The efforts of the government alone will never be enough. In the end the people must choose and the people must help themselves" ~ JFK; from his famous inauguration speech (What Democrats sounded like before today's neo-Liberals hijacked that party)